Kurdistan Observer

TUNCELI, Turkey (Reuters) - An Iraqi Kurdish group opposed to President Saddam Hussein has increased the size of its armed forces and improved their organization, a Turkish source said Friday.

The Kurds of northern Iraq could form an important part of any U.S.-led efforts to oust Saddam.

A spokesman for Massoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Ankara denied any increase in the size of its forces in northern Iraq, but acknowledged efforts to improve organization of the militia.

A Turkish source who closely watches northern Iraq said Barzani had called up some 10,000 new men to arms, a figure rejected by Safeen Dizayee, the KDP spokesman in Ankara.

"People are confused over the numbers. Moves have been going on for several years to reorganize and this is how the confusion comes about. There is no increase," Dizayee said.

The well-placed Turkish source, who asked not to be named, said: "In recent years Barzani has put a lot of effort into the military and has taken great steps to create a professional force. Additionally, while setting up military units, they have taken care to make them more organized and in closer contact with one another."

Turkey, fearful of Kurdish nationalism in its own borders, opposes the formation of any Kurdish state inside neighboring northern Iraq and keeps an eye on developments in the enclave.

Turkey stations its own troops in northern Iraq, largely to strike at its own Kurdish rebels who have bases there.

Relations between Barzani and the government of Turkey have worsened in recent weeks since he unveiled a draft constitution that would give his region wide autonomy under any new Iraqi government.

RELUCTANT ALLIES

The KDP and the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan have controlled northern Iraq since shortly after the 1991 Gulf War.

Estimates of the size of the force Barzani could summon are unreliable but generally fall around 40,000-50,000. The two groups together could perhaps muster 70,000 men.

Both are deeply worried, however, by the prospect of a U.S. attack, fearing any turmoil could jeopardize the fragile autonomy and prosperity they have built in their mountain region in the 10 years since the end of the Gulf War.

Some militia fighters or "peshmerga" -- which means "those who face death" -- have long experience of combat against both the Iraqi government and against the forces of the rival Kurdish faction.

U.S.-led air patrols protect the region from Iraqi government attacks, and the United States worked hard to broker a peace deal to end regular outbreaks of fighting between the two feuding factions.

The Turkish source said Barzani also could call on a small number of special units, many trained with the assistance of U.S. military advisers.

He said KDP peshmergas had been deployed in strength around the regional capital Arbil and in areas close to the Iraqi government-controlled cities Kirkuk and Mosul.

While some have heavy artillery, most of the peshmerga are lightly armed. Barzani also has bolstered his forces on his region's border with Turkey, including some anti-aircraft guns, the Turkish source said.